Conference call selectable configuration in which participants can be configured to join at different time (order), use presence information to configure/initiate the conference call

ABSTRACT

An automated method and system is provided for configuring conference calls in which participants can be joined automatically at different times and in response to differing stimuli and in which presence information is used to configure and/or initiate the conference calls.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims the benefits of U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 60/951,611, filed Jul. 24, 2007, of the same title,which is incorporated herein by this reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates generally to web conferencing and particularly toaudio web conferencing.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Audio multi-party conferencing is critical to conducting business today.Circuit-switched audio conferencing can be initiated from aparticipant's phone but typically is limited to three or fewerparticipants. Outsourced conferencing services enable multi-partyconference calls of larger numbers of participants. Such outsourcedconferencing services, however, have become a significant expense formany organizations.

Audio and video web conferencing is rapidly replacing circuit-switchedaudio conferencing. Using such applications, users, through a graphicaluser interface, can set up conference calls among a large number ofparties. The applications have been integrated with electronic calendarsto schedule seamlessly the calls. When a user identifies the conferencecall participants and specifies conference call time and duration,invitations are sent automatically to each desired participant to docketthe call time and contact information on each participant's electroniccalendar. The invitation can include conference call options to indicatewhether and how the potential participant will participate in theconference call. As each conference call option selection is received,another updated conference call invitation is sent to each participant.At the scheduled time, the conference call is initiated by theoriginating participant's teleconferencing bridge automatically or byeach participant calling into the bridge. When automated, the order ofjoining the participants is generally based on the order in which theinvitations are generated or accepted or by random selection. Suchapplications have reduced corporate expenses by eliminating outsourcedconferencing services and saving per-port charges levied by thetelecommunication service providers for each teleconferencing minute.

Although audio and web conferencing is a major improvement overcircuit-switched audio conferencing, it still gives the originatingparticipant only limited control over the configuration of theconference call.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

These and other needs are addressed by the various embodiments andconfigurations of the present inventions. The present inventions aredirected to an automated method and system for configuring conferencecalls in which, inter alia, participants can be joined automatically atdifferent times and in response to differing stimuli and in whichpresence information is used to configure and/or initiate the conferencecalls.

In a first invention, a method includes the steps:

(a) receiving, from a subscriber, configuration information for amultiparty conference call, the configuration information including aplurality of: an identity of one or more of the participants for theconference call, contact information for one or more of the conferencecall participants, a start time for the conference call, an end time forthe conference call, and a conference call duration, wherein at leastone of the following is true of the configuration information:

-   -   (A1) the configuration information sets forth an order in which        to join at least first and second participants;    -   (A2) the configuration information sets forth a plurality of        different times for joining different participants; and    -   (A3) the configuration information sets forth at least one event        upon which joining a participant is contingent;

(b) creating data structures associated with the configurationinformation;

(c) at an appropriate time, retrieving the data structures andcontacting automatically each of the participants in accordance with thedata structures; and

(d) connecting each of the participants with one another to initiate theconference call.

This invention can provide the conference call host or initiator withthe ability to schedule, as he or she sees fit, the order and timing ofjoining conference call participants. The initiator can select specificand disparate times at which conference participants are to be joined.For example, a first participant can be joined at 2:15 pm and a secondat 2:30 pm. Alternatively, the second participant is joined after thefirst participant in response to the initiator issuing a command duringthe conference call. In another variation, the timing of joining someonein a conference call is based on the disconnection of another party fromor connection of the party to the conference call. By way of example, athird participant is joined in automatically when a second participantdisconnects from or connects to the conference call.

Setting up the conference call can thus be seamless to the initiator.The initiator need not laboriously place participants on hold whileanother participant is joined.

In yet another invention, an auto-conferencing method is provided thatincludes the following steps:

(a) receiving a set of participants for a conference call and a starttime for the conference call;

(b) scheduling the conference call in an electronic calendar of at leastone of the participants;

(c) accessing presence information for a plurality of the participantsin advance of the conference call; and

(d) using the presence information, automatically contacting theparticipants to set up the conference call in temporal proximity to thestart time.

The use of presence information in scheduling and/or initiating aconference call can provide for fewer unsuccessfully initiatedconference calls due to absentee participants and therefore lead tosubstantial benefits to businesses. Each time a conference call isincompletely populated, the call must either be abandoned or conductedinefficiently and sometimes ineffectively without full attendance.

These and other advantages will be apparent from the disclosure of theinvention(s) contained herein.

As used herein, “at least one”, “one or more”, and “and/or” areopen-ended expressions that are both conjunctive and disjunctive inoperation. For example, each of the expressions “at least one of A, Band C”, “at least one of A, B, or C”, “one or more of A, B, and C”, “oneor more of A, B, or C” and “A, B, and/or C” means A alone, B alone, Calone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, or A, B andC together.

The term “a” or “an” entity refers to one or more of that entity. Assuch, the terms “a” (or “an”), “one or more” and “at least one” can beused interchangeably herein. It is also to be noted that the terms“comprising”, “including”, and “having” can be used interchangeably.

The term “automatic” and variations thereof, as used herein, refers toany process or operation done without material human input when theprocess or operation is performed. However, a process or operation canbe automatic even if performance of the process or operation uses humaninput, whether material or immaterial, received before performance ofthe process or operation. Human input is deemed to be material if suchinput influences how the process or operation will be performed. Humaninput that consents to the performance of the process or operation isnot deemed to be “material”.

The term “computer-readable medium” as used herein refers to anytangible storage and/or transmission medium that participates inproviding instructions to a processor for execution. Such a medium maytake many forms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media,volatile media, and transmission media. Non-volatile media includes, forexample, NVRAM, or magnetic or optical disks. Volatile media includesdynamic memory, such as main memory. Common forms of computer-readablemedia include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk,magnetic tape, or any other magnetic medium, magneto-optical medium, aCD-ROM, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, any otherphysical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, and EPROM, aFLASH-EPROM, a solid state medium like a memory card, any other memorychip or cartridge, a carrier wave as described hereinafter, or any othermedium from which a computer can read. A digital file attachment toe-mail or other self-contained information archive or set of archives isconsidered a distribution medium equivalent to a tangible storagemedium. When the computer-readable media is configured as a database, itis to be understood that the database may be any type of database, suchas relational, hierarchical, object-oriented, and/or the like.Accordingly, the invention is considered to include a tangible storagemedium or distribution medium and prior art-recognized equivalents andsuccessor media, in which the software implementations of the presentinvention are stored.

The terms “determine”, “calculate” and “compute,” and variationsthereof; as used herein, are used interchangeably and include any typeof methodology, process, mathematical operation or technique.

The term “module” as used herein refers to any known or later developedhardware, software, firmware, artificial intelligence, fuzzy logic, orcombination of hardware and software that is capable of performing thefunctionality associated with that element. Also, while the invention isdescribed in terms of exemplary embodiments, it should be appreciatedthat individual aspects of the invention can be separately claimed.

The preceding is a simplified summary of the inventions to provide anunderstanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is neitheran extensive nor exhaustive overview of the inventions and theirrespective embodiments. It is intended neither to identify key orcritical elements of the inventions nor to delineate the scopes of theinventions but to present selected concepts of the inventions in asimplified form as an introduction to the more detailed descriptionpresented below. As will be appreciated, other embodiments of theinventions are possible utilizing, alone or in combination, one or moreof the features set forth above or described in detail below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a communications architecture according toan embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 depicts a graphical user interface display according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart according to an embodiment of the presentinvention; and

FIG. 5 is a flowchart according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The various inventions will be illustrated below in conjunction with anexemplary communication system. Although well suited for use with, e.g.,a system using a server(s) and/or database(s), the invention is notlimited to use with any particular type of communication system orconfiguration of system elements. Those skilled in the art willrecognize that the disclosed techniques may be used in any communicationapplication in which it is desirable to conference multiple partiestogether, whether by live voice, text, and/or video, such as webconferencing, text chat, and instant messaging.

FIG. 1 depicts an architecture 100 according to a first embodiment ofthe present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, an enterprise network 104 isin communication, via packet-switched (typically untrusted or unsecureor public) Wide Area Network (WAN) 108, with a presence service 112, anda plurality of external communication devices 116 a-x. The enterprisenetwork 104 includes a communications server 120 and a plurality ofinternal first, second, . . . nth communications devices 124 a-n,interconnected by a (trusted or secure or private) Local Area Network(LAN) 128. As will be appreciated, extensions of internal communicationdevices are extensions within the enterprise network 104 that aredirectly serviced by the enterprise server. More particularly, theseextensions correspond to endpoints serviced by the server, and theserver can direct incoming calls to and receive outgoing calls fromthese extensions in a conventional manner. External terminals are notdirectly supported as endpoints by the enterprise server.

The communications server 120 can include a PBX, an enterprise switch,an enterprise server, or other type of telecommunications system switchor server, as well as other types of processor-based communicationcontrol devices such as media servers (i.e., email servers, voicemailservers, web servers, and the like), computers, adjuncts, etc. Theserver 120 is preferably configured to execute telecommunicationapplications such as the suite of MultiVantage™ applications of Avaya,Inc., including Communication Manager™ and MultiVantage Express™. Theserver 120 preferably includes one or more MultiPoint ConferencingUnits™ (MCU) and/or Meeting Exchange™ of Avaya, Inc., and a suitableconferencing server, such as a 1056-port CS700 Conferencing Server™ ofAvaya, Inc. These products typically require the participants to dialinto a conference bridge using a predetermined dial-in number and accesscode to initiate conferences, without an operator or advancedreservations. As will be appreciated, these products further provideintegrated features such as audio and web conference management, desktopsharing, polling, interactive whiteboard session, chat, applicationsharing, conference recording and playback of audio and web portions ofthe conference, and annotation tools.

The first, second, . . . nth communication devices 124 a-n can be anyIP-capable hard- or softphone modified to perform the operations of thepresent invention. Examples of suitable modified IP telephones includethe 5600™, 9620™, 9630™, 9640™, 9640G™, 9650™, and Quick Edition™telephones and IP wireless telephones of Avaya, Inc. The communicationdevices 124 a-n each include a processor 132 and memory 136. The memory136 includes various computational modules, including an electroniccalendar module 140, such as Outlook™ by Microsoft, Inc., a listing ofcontact information 144, a conference call configuration module 148, anda conference call placement module 152.

The electronic calendar 140 handles scheduling of all conference callsrequested by a subscriber. Accordingly, the calendar 140 automaticallysends conferencing invitations to conference call participants, receivesand processes accept and decline responses and sends updatedconferencing invitations responsive thereto, and, when all participantsagree upon a time for the call, handles entry of the scheduledconference call into each participant's electronic calendar. Theconferencing invitations include a number of fields that may vary by thecommunication modality selected by each participant. Exemplary fieldsinclude subject, location, label, start time, end time, reminder time,description, participant identifiers, participant selected communicationmodality identifier for one or more of the identified participants,participant contact information (e.g., electronic address of endpoint toparticipate in conference call) for one or more of the identifiedparticipants, accept, decline, and scheduling changes. A pointer in eachparticipant's calendar entry references data structures associated withthe scheduled conference call.

The contact listing 144 (or local address book) is a subscriber-selectedlisting of contact information from which the conference callparticipants may be selected. The contact listing may be automaticallyconfigured, or populated initially, in response to tracking thesubscriber's interpersonal communications, manually input by thesubscriber, or a combination thereof. Each contact listing entryincludes, for example, the name of the person, home address, employer,category of the person, and electronic addresses of one or more of theperson's communication devices. A participant may be selected byaccessing the contact listing and selecting the participant's entry.

The conference call configuration module 148 provides a graphical userinterface to the subscriber to enable the subscriber to configure aconference call. As shown in FIG. 2, the display provides a number ofoptions or fields, including a number of conference call start time 200,end time 204, duration 208, date 212, the name 216 a-d of eachparticipant, and, for each named participant, an order identifier 220a-d indicating an order in which the corresponding participant is to becontacted, an electronic address 224 a-d (e.g., a telephone number,address of record, and the like) of the corresponding participant, atime 228 a-d to join the corresponding participant, a condition orprecursor event 232 a-d to join the corresponding participant, and roleidentifier 236 a-d. Additional participants can be selected using yes/noicons 240 and 244. Completion of the display is indicated by selecting“yes” icon 248.

The conference call placement module 152 contacts automatically eachconference call participant at the time and by the communicationmodality indicated by the subscriber. This can be done, for example, bythe server 120 simulating telephone number key presses for a participantto be contacted by circuit-switched phone or by sending Voice overInternet Protocol or IP call set up messages to the appropriateelectronic addresses. When the participant answers the call, he or shereceives a message such as “This is your conference call scheduled for Xpm. Please hold while I connect the other participants.” When all of theparticipants have answered, the conference bridge is activated so thatthey are all conferenced together.

In the example depicted in FIG. 2, the conference call initiator or hostis Mary Smith, the participant on the first line of the display. Theconfiguration module 148 auto-populates this entry as the module alreadyknows her information. Unless indicated otherwise, the initiator isassumed to be the first participant to be contacted when the conferencecall is initiated.

Returning to the example, Mary Smith has selected John Doe, JohnHancock, and William Clark as participants. She has further indicated,using order identifier 220, the order in which the participants are tobe contacted and joined to the conference call. Mary Smith is to befirst contacted at 1:00 pm by the conference call placement module 152;John Hancock second as close to 1 pm as possible; John Doe third at 1:15pm; and William Clark immediately after John Hancock disconnects fromthe conference call but not later than 1:45 pm. Alternatively, MarySmith could have stipulated that William Clark be connected immediatelyafter John Hancock connects to the conference call. Regarding thehandling of each participant's media stream, Mary Smith, John Doe,William Clark, and John Hancock are to receive outgoing media streamsfrom each of the other participants (as each of these three participantslistens and talks). The outgoing media stream of John Hancock, however,is not forwarded to the other three participants (as he is listen only).As will be appreciated, the media stream may be audio only or acombination of audio and video.

In one configuration, the conference call initiator can further indicatewhat communication modality is to be used for each participant. Forexample, Mary Smith could ask for herself to be connected bycircuit-switched phone, John Doe and William Clark by packet-switchedphone, and John Hancock by instant messaging, with the speech beingconverted into a streaming text equivalent.

In one configuration, the subscriber may indicate that a participant isto be conferenced into the conference call only if he decides, duringthe call, to do so. In other words, the contingent event that must besatisfied before the participant is joined is a decision made and acommand issued by the subscriber during the conference call. The commandmay be as simple as a single key press or icon selection. The subscriberneed not dial the participant's electronic address. In the other casesabove, the contingent event is either temporal or based upon an actionof a participant other than the subscriber.

The presence service 112 includes a presence server 154 and anassociated presence information database 158 that may or may not beoperated by the enterprise network. The presence server 154 and presenceinformation database 158 collectively track the presence and/oravailability of presence service subscribers and/or their communicationdevices and provide, to requesting entities, current presenceinformation respecting selected presence service subscribers.

“Presence information” refers to any information associated with anetwork node and/or endpoint device, such as a communication device,that is in turn associated with a person or identity. Presenceinformation can indicate user status (e.g., online or offline), useravailability (e.g., available, busy, on the phone, or out to lunch),user's desired contact means (e.g., instant messaging, circuit-switchedtelephone, packet-switched telephone, cell phone, pager, etc.) that mayvary by contactor identity and/or contact time, and at what endpoint acontactor is most likely to reach successfully the presence servicesubscriber. Presence information can span a number of differentcommunication channels. The aggregated view of a user's presence (thatis, the availability across all of an individual's SIP-enabled devices)is called Multiple Points of Presence or MPOP. Examples of informationuseful in determining a user's presence and availability includeinformation regarding the accessibility of the endpoint device, therecency of use of the endpoint device by the person, recency ofauthentication by the person to a network component, recency ofregistration of an endpoint device, an endpoint publishing presenceinformation, SUBSCRIPTION requests generated by a user agent in theuser's endpoint device, geographical location of the user using mobiledevice location information, scheduled activities on the user'scalendar, indications whether or not a user has been reading or sendingemail, and an indication whether the user's email application has an outof office setting. Present information can be, for example, theelectronic address of a device at which the service subscriber iscurrently deemed to be present and/or available.

Presence information can further include user preferences. Userpreferences, for example, include contact mode preferences or profilessuch as the communication device to be contacted for specific types ofcontacts or under specified factual scenarios, contact time preferences,impermissible contact types and/or subjects such as subjects about whichthe person does not wish to be contacted, permissible contact typeand/or subjects such as subjects about which the person does wish to becontacted, and contactor's to be given preference, priority, oradditional choices for user's communication endpoints and/or mode. Forexample, user preferences can include a buddy list much like instantmessaging. User preferences permits a user to specify modes ofcommunication based upon the time of day of communications, e.g., theuser might accept a nonurgent call on a cell phone during the day butafter hours direct it to a voice-mail or Interactive Voice Responseunit. User preferences permit a user to select which medium ofcommunication he or she wants to use or respond with, based upon a widenumber of parameters.

The presence server 154 can act as both a presence agent and proxy.Presence agents receive and respond to SUBSCRIPTION requests, sendNOTIFY requests, and generate state notifications as defined by theSession Initiation Protocol (“SIP”) Events specification. Beforeestablishing a dialog and sending notifications over that dialog,presence agents first authenticate SUBSCRIPTION requests. Proxiesforward SUBSCRIBE requests to another presence agent.

In one configuration, the presence service 112 is used to accessparticipant presence information for the graphical user interfacedisplayed to the subscriber or immediately prior to contacting theparticipant to connect him or her to the conference call. The subscriberfirst enters an address of record into the display as participantcontact information. The configuration module 148 then retrieves thepresence information for the participant from the participant's presenceservice 112. Alternatively, the subscriber can enter a participant'selectronic address, which can be mapped to the participant's address ofrecord or presence service 112 using known techniques, such as the ENUMprotocol.

In one configuration, the presence service 112 is used when theparticipant fails to answer at the electronic address selected by thesubscriber when the conference call was configured. In that event, theplacement module 152 retrieves the absentee participant's currentpresence information from the presence service 112. The address havingthe greatest likelihood of contacting successfully the absenteeparticipant is then used to retry joining the participant to theconference call. The number of attempts made using different addressesof absentee participants is user configurable. In this configuration,either intelligent or parallel forking may be employed. When a SIP proxy(a server that processes and forwards SIP requests between calling andcalled parties) receives an INVITE (request to communicate), it uses thecalled party's presence information to make a routing decision, orforking. An intelligent fork sends an INVITE to a specific endpointdevice of a contactee, while a parallel fork sends simultaneously anINVITE to different endpoint addresses of the contactee.

Alternatively at the time of joining each participant, the module 152can access the presence service of each participant to obtain his or hercurrent presence information and use the presence information to contactthe participant even if the presence. information is in conflict withthe data structures associated with the conference call.

The external communication devices 117 a-x can be any suitable circuit-or packet-switched or TDM-enabled communication device. Examples includewired and wireless telephones, Personal Digital Assistants or PDAs,Personal Computers or PCs, laptops, packet-based H.320 video phones andconferencing units, packet-based voice messaging and response units,peer-to-peer based communication devices, and packet-based traditionalcomputer telephony adjuncts.

The operation of the conference call configuration module 148 will nowbe discussed with reference to FIG. 3.

In step 300, a subscriber completes a display similar to FIG. 2containing conference call configuration information and selects icon248.

In step 304, the configuration module 148 provides the information tothe electronic calendar module 140 and the module 140 generates andsends conferencing invites to the named participants (including thesubscriber).

In step 308, when all conference call details have been successfullynegotiated amongst the participants, the configuration module 148creates automatically data structures containing the resultingconference call details and the calendar module 140 causes the entry ofthe details in each participant's electronic calendar.

In decision diamond 312, the configuration module 148 determines whetherthere is another conference call to be scheduled. If so, the module 148returns to step 300. If not, the module 148 terminates operation.

The operation of the conference call placement module 152 will now bediscussed with reference to FIG. 4.

In step 400, the module 152 receives notification from the calendarmodule 140 that a conference call requires initiation. The notificationincludes a pointer to the data structures describing the conferencecall. The notification is typically generated in advance of the earliestscheduled initiation time for the call.

In step 404, the module 152 retrieves the conference call datastructures.

In step 408, the module 152 places calls and constructs communicationchannel (i.e., media stream flow) associations in accordance with thedata structures.

FIG. 5 shows an embodiment according to another invention. Thisflowchart may be employed to obtain participant's presence informationwhen configuring the conference call or immediately before theconference call.

In step 500, the module 152 generates a SUBSCRIPTION request to thepresence service 112 of each participant identified on the graphicaluser interface display of FIG. 2. The request may be generated for aparticipant as that participant is added or immediately before thatparticipant is to be contacted and connected to the conference bridge.The SUBSCRIPTION request can include, in addition to the participant'saddress of record, the conference call parameters, namely conferencecall start time, end time, duration, date, and required conference callendpoint capabilities. As noted, conference calls can provide features,such as audio and web conference management, desktop sharing, polling,interactive whiteboard session, chat, application sharing, conferencerecording and playback of audio and web portions of the conference, andannotation tools. These various features can require specific endpointcapabilities for effective implementation in a conference call. By wayof example, a video conference call requires each endpoint to have theability to generate a video stream of the local participant and receiveand process video streams of the other participants. Desktop sharingrequires each endpoint to be capable of receiving and processing thepackets of the application, such as Excel™, being shared during theconference call. If the conference call is to be in the form of a textchat or instant messaging session, the various endpoints must be textchat or instant messaging capable.

In step 504, the presence server 154 authenticates the SUBSCRIPTIONrequest.

In step 508, the presence server 154 determines, for the conference callparameters, which presence information to publish. As noted, presenceinformation can include user preferences. This step permits the userpreferences of the participant to be applied to the conference callrequest. For example, when the user preferences specify whichcommunication device can be published for a specified requestor and/orat the scheduled time of the conference call, only those communicationdevices are published in response to the SUBSCRIPTION request.

In step 512, the presence server 154 determines for the conference callparameters which of the participant's communication devices to select.This step requires viewing the capabilities of the participant's variouscommunication devices in light of the minimum required capabilitiesrequired for the conference call. Only those communication devicesmeeting or exceeding the minimum required capabilities are selected forpublication.

In step 516, the presence server 154 provides the presence informationto be published to the user agent of the host. The user agent providesthe presence information to the conference call configuration module 148for presentation to the host in the “party contact information” field ofthe display of FIG. 2. This may be done as a drop down list of thevarious communication devices for selection by the host.

Step 520 is applied when steps 500-516 are performed immediately priorto a conference call being initiated. In step 520, the communicationdevice of the participant is selected and a contact initiated to jointhe participant to the conference call.

The present invention may be used with either a client-serverarchitecture or a peer-to-peer architecture, such as those envisioned bythe Session Initiation Protocol and SIP Instant Messaging and PresenceLeveraging Extensions or SIMPLE. In the client-server model or paradigm,network services and the programs used by end users to access theservices are described. The client side provides a user with aninterface for requesting services from the network, and the server sideis responsible for accepting user requests for services and providingthe services transparent to the user. By contrast in the peer-to-peermodel or paradigm, each networked host runs both the client and serverparts of an application program. Moreover, the invention does notrequire a specific Internet Protocol Telephony (IPT) protocol and couldbe implemented, for example, using QSIG, H.323, and combinationsthereof.

The exemplary systems and methods of this invention have been describedin relation to conference call scheduling and initiating. However, toavoid unnecessarily obscuring the present invention, the precedingdescription omits a number of known structures and devices. Thisomission is not to be construed as a limitation of the scope of theclaimed invention. Specific details are set forth to provide anunderstanding of the present invention. It should however be appreciatedthat the present invention may be practiced in a variety of ways beyondthe specific detail set forth herein.

Furthermore, while the exemplary embodiments illustrated herein show thevarious components of the system collocated, certain components of thesystem can be located remotely, at distant portions of a distributednetwork, such as a LAN and/or the Internet, or within a dedicatedsystem. Thus, it should be appreciated, that the components of thesystem can be combined into one or more devices, such as a server and/orserver adjunct, or collocated on a particular node of a distributednetwork, such as an analog and/or digital telecommunications network, apacket-switch network, or a circuit-switched network. It will beappreciated from the preceding description, and for reasons ofcomputational efficiency, that the components of the system can bearranged at any location within a distributed network of componentswithout affecting the operation of the system. For example, the variouscomponents can be located in a switch such as a PBX and media server,gateway, in one or more communications devices, at one or more users'premises, or some combination thereof. Similarly, one or more functionalportions of the system could be distributed between a telecommunicationsdevice(s) and an associated computing device.

Furthermore, it should be appreciated that the various links connectingthe elements can be wired or wireless links, or any combination thereof,or any other known or later developed element(s) that is capable ofsupplying and/or communicating data to and from the connected elements.These wired or wireless links can also be secure links and may becapable of communicating encrypted information. Transmission media usedas links, for example, can be any suitable carrier for electricalsignals, including coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, and maytake the form of acoustic or light waves, such as those generated duringradio-wave and infra-red data communications.

Also, while the flowcharts have been discussed and illustrated inrelation to a particular sequence of events, it should be appreciatedthat changes, additions, and omissions to this sequence can occurwithout materially affecting the operation of the invention.

A number of variations and modifications of the invention can be used.It would be possible to provide for some features of the inventionwithout providing others.

For example in one alternative embodiment, the various computationalmodules in memory 136 may be located in other network nodes. Forexample, one or more of the modules can be located in the server 120. Inanother example, one or more of the modules can be located on aconferencing service provider's premises with subscribers thereto beingcharged for using the modules.

In another alternative embodiment, the invention can be used withtime-sensitive or dependent items other than conference calls. By way ofexample, the invention can be used with layered passwords that onlybecome valid in a specific order or at a specific time. This can be doneusing a display similar to that of FIG. 2, where the party identity andparty contact information are replaced by password fields, and the “whenjoin?” and “condition to join” fields are replaced with fields regardingwhen a password is to become valid and for how long and events uponwhich password validity is contingent (or what event is required for apassword to become valid). Thus, the graphical user interface can becomea convenient way to create layered password structures in user securityapplications.

In yet another embodiment, the participants call into a bridge. Textmessages, such as email or instant messages, are forwarded automaticallyby the conference call placement module 152 to the participants whenthey are to be joined requesting them to call into the predeterminednumber associated with the bridge. In this embodiment, the module 152does not itself automatically make a call to each of the participants.

In yet another embodiment, the systems and methods of this invention canbe implemented in conjunction with a special purpose computer, aprogrammed microprocessor or microcontroller and peripheral integratedcircuit element(s), an ASIC or other integrated circuit, a digitalsignal processor, a hard-wired electronic or logic circuit such asdiscrete element circuit, a programmable logic device or gate array suchas PLD, PLA, FPGA, PAL, special purpose computer, any comparable means,or the like. In general, any device(s) or means capable of implementingthe methodology illustrated herein can be used to implement the variousaspects of this invention. Exemplary hardware that can be used for thepresent invention includes computers, handheld devices, telephones(e.g., cellular, Internet enabled, digital, analog, hybrids, andothers), and other hardware known in the art. Some of these devicesinclude processors (e.g., a single or multiple microprocessors), memory,nonvolatile storage, input devices, and output devices. Furthermore,alternative software implementations including, but not limited to,distributed processing or component/object distributed processing,parallel processing, or virtual machine processing can also beconstructed to implement the methods described herein.

In yet another embodiment, the disclosed methods may be readilyimplemented in conjunction with software using object or object-orientedsoftware development environments that provide portable source code thatcan be used on a variety of computer or workstation platforms.Alternatively, the disclosed system may be implemented partially orfully in hardware using standard logic circuits or VLSI design. Whethersoftware or hardware is used to implement the systems in accordance withthis invention is dependent on the speed and/or efficiency requirementsof the system, the particular function, and the particular software orhardware systems or microprocessor or microcomputer systems beingutilized.

In yet another embodiment, the disclosed methods may be partiallyimplemented in software that can be stored on a storage medium, executedon programmed general-purpose computer with the cooperation of acontroller and memory, a special purpose computer, a microprocessor, orthe like. In these instances, the systems and methods of this inventioncan be implemented as program embedded on personal computer such as anapplet, JAVA® or CGI script, as a resource residing on a server orcomputer workstation, as a routine embedded in a dedicated measurementsystem, system component, or the like. The system can also beimplemented by physically incorporating the system and/or method into asoftware and/or hardware system.

Although the present invention describes components and functionsimplemented in the embodiments with reference to particular standardsand protocols, the invention is not limited to such standards andprotocols. Other similar standards and protocols not mentioned hereinare in existence and are considered to be included in the presentinvention. Moreover, the standards and protocols mentioned herein andother similar standards and protocols not mentioned herein areperiodically superseded by faster or more effective equivalents havingessentially the same functions. Such replacement standards and protocolshaving the same functions are considered equivalents included in thepresent invention.

The present invention, in various embodiments, includes components,methods, processes, systems and/or apparatus substantially as depictedand described herein, including various embodiments, subcombinations,and subsets thereof. Those of skill in the art will understand how tomake and use the present invention after understanding the presentdisclosure. The present invention, in various embodiments, includesproviding devices and processes in the absence of items not depictedand/or described herein or in various embodiments hereof, including inthe absence of such items as may have been used in previous devices orprocesses, e.g., for improving performance, achieving ease and\orreducing cost of implementation.

The foregoing discussion of the invention has been presented forpurposes of illustration and description. The foregoing is not intendedto limit the invention to the form or forms disclosed herein. In theforegoing Detailed Description for example, various features of theinvention are grouped together in one or more embodiments for thepurpose of streamlining the disclosure. The features of the embodimentsof the invention may be combined in alternate embodiments other thanthose discussed above. This method of disclosure is not to beinterpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed inventionrequires more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather,as the following claims reflect, inventive aspects lie in less than allfeatures of a single foregoing disclosed embodiment. Thus, the followingclaims are hereby incorporated into this Detailed Description, with eachclaim standing on its own as a separate preferred embodiment of theinvention.

Moreover, though the description of the invention has includeddescription of one or more embodiments and certain variations andmodifications, other variations, combinations, and modifications arewithin the scope of the invention, e.g., as may be within the skill andknowledge of those in the art, after understanding the presentdisclosure. It is intended to obtain rights which include alternativeembodiments to the extent permitted, including alternate,interchangeable and/or equivalent structures, functions, ranges or stepsto those claimed, whether or not such alternate, interchangeable and/orequivalent structures, functions, ranges or steps are disclosed herein,and without intending to publicly dedicate any patentable subjectmatter.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: (a) receiving, from asubscriber, configuration information for a multiparty conference call,the configuration information including a plurality of: an identity ofone or more of the participants for the conference call, contactinformation for one or more of the conference call participants, a starttime for the conference call, an end time for the conference call, and aconference call duration, wherein the configuration information setsforth an order in which to join at least first, second and thirdparticipants upon initiation of the conference call, independent of atime to join the at least first, second and third participants, whereinthe configuration information sets forth at least one event, wherein theat least one event joins the third participant to the conference callcontingent upon a specific one of the first or second participantsdisconnecting from the conference call, and wherein the configurationinformation additionally sets forth at least a second even upon whichjoining the third participant is contingent and wherein the second evenjoins the third participant at a specified time in the conference calleven if the specific one of the first or second participants has notdisconnected from the conference call by the specified time; (b)creating data structures associated with the configuration information;(c) at an appropriate time, retrieving the data structures andcontacting automatically each of the participants in accordance with thedata structures; and (d) connecting each of the participants with oneanother to initiate the conference call.
 2. The method of claim 1,further comprising: (e) generating automatically conferencinginvitations to the participants identified in the configurationinformation, the conferencing invitations comprising at least some ofthe configuration information.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein theorder is different from an order in which the participants respond toconferencing invitations associated with scheduling the conference calland an alphabetical ordering of the participants based on theparticipants' first, middle, and/or last names.
 4. The method of claim1, wherein the configuration information additionally sets forth aplurality of different times for joining different participants.
 5. Themethod of claim 4, wherein a first set of participants has a commonfirst time to be joined and at least one other participant has adifferent second time to be joined.
 6. The method of claim 1, whereinstep (d) comprises the substeps: (D1) contacting automatically a firstparticipant at a first electronic address selected by the subscriber;(D2) determining automatically that the first participant has notanswered at the first electronic address; (D3) accessing automaticallypresence information of the first participant; (D4) selectingautomatically a second electronic address based on the presenceinformation; and (D5) contacting automatically the first participant atthe second electronic address.
 7. A computer readable medium comprisingprocessor-executable instructions to perform the steps of claim 1,wherein the computer readable medium is a tangible medium.
 8. Aconferencing system, comprising: (a) a conference call configurationmodule operable to receive, from a subscriber, configuration informationfor a multiparty conference call, the configuration informationincluding a plurality of: an identity of one or more of the participantsfor the conference call, contact information for one or more of theconference call participants, a start time for the conference call, anend time for the conference call, and a conference call duration,wherein the configuration information sets forth an order in which tojoin at least first and second participants upon initiation of theconference call, independent of a time to join either of the first andsecond participants, wherein the configuration information sets forth atleast one event and wherein the at least one event joins a specificparticipant contingent upon another specific participant disconnectingfrom the conference call, and wherein the configuration informationadditionally sets forth at least a second even upon which joining aparticipant is contingent and wherein the second even joins a thirdparticipant at a specified time in the conference even if the specificone of the first or second participants has not disconnected from theconference call by the specified time; (b) a set of data structuresassociated with the configuration information; and (c) a conference callplacement module operable, at an appropriate time, to retrieve the datastructures, contact automatically each of the participants in accordancewith the data structures, and connect each of the participants with oneanother to initiate the conference call.
 9. The system of claim 8,further comprising: (d) an electronic calendar module operable togenerate automatically conferencing invitations to the participantsidentified in the configuration information, the conferencinginvitations comprising at least some of the conferencing information.10. The system of claim 8, wherein the order is different from an orderin which the participants respond to conferencing invitations associatedwith scheduling the conference call and an alphabetical ordering of theparticipants based on the participants' first, middle, and/or lastnames.
 11. The system of claim 8, wherein the configuration informationsets forth a plurality of different times for joining differentparticipants.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein a first set ofparticipants has a common first time to be joined and at least one otherparticipant has a different second time to be joined.
 13. An automatedconferencing method, comprising: (a) receiving a set of participants fora conference call, the set including at least first, second, and thirdparticipants, receiving an order in which the set of participants are tobe joined to the conference call upon initiation of the conference call,receiving configuration information comprising a precondition forjoining the third participant to the conference call, wherein theprecondition is an event that joins the third participant to theconference call contingent upon a specific one of the first or secondparticipants disconnecting from the conference call, and receiving astart time for the conference call, wherein the configurationinformation sets forth at least a second even upon which joining aparticipant is contingent and wherein the second even joins the thirdparticipant at a specified time in the conference even if the specificone of the first or second participants has not disconnected from theconference call by the specified time; (b) scheduling the conferencecall in an electronic calendar of at least one of the participants; and(c) accessing presence information for a plurality of the participantsin advance of the conference call, wherein at least one of the followingis true: (C1) using the presence information in scheduling theconference call; and (C2) in temporal proximity to the conference callstart time, using the presence information to contact the participantsto set up the conference call; (d) joining at least first and secondparticipants included in the set of participants; (e) after joining thefirst and second participants, the second participant disconnecting fromthe conference call; and (f) after the second participant disconnectsfrom the conference call, joining a third participant, whereindisconnecting the second participant is the precondition for joining thethird participant.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein (C1) is true. 15.The method of claim 13, wherein (C2) is true.
 16. A computer readablemedium comprising processor executable instructions to perform the stepsof claim 13, wherein the computer readable medium is a tangible medium.